A young girl who lives on a tropical island loses her parents to a voodoo sacrifice, but although she manages to escape the island, a curse is put on her. years later, as an adult, she feels a strong compulsion to return to the island to confront her past. Her husband, her daughter and her nanny go with her, but once back on the island, the woman finds herself elevated by the locals to the stature of a voodoo goddess, and she begins her inevitable descent into madness, with disastrous results for her family.

The language spoken by the native characters, and by Juanita (Dorothy Burgess) when she addresses them directly, is Kreyol (also spelled Creole), the African-influenced dialect of French that is the common language of Haiti.